Curriculum Review: Rod And Staff Art

Fitting art projects into our school day has often been a challenge. Time constraints often have us pushing art off for other things. I really do think art is important for children to learn. Often the girls other subjects have projects that are artistic so thankfully they have had many chances to work with their artistic abilities. This year, however, I really wanted to find something that would be fun for them but help them hone their skills as well.

The curriculum we are using this year is from Rod and Staff and it is called Art With A Purpose. Each grade has it's own "Artpac". Each Artpac contains a list of each project with instructions for the teacher to guide the student. There are also photocopied pages for just about every project that are consumable. The sheets are loose-leaf so a two-pocket folder is helpful in keeping it in order.

There are several things I like about this curriculum.

It is very inexpensive. Each Artpac is around $8. There are enough lessons to do one each week for an entire school year.

It is practical. Most of the supplies are things that any homeschool family will already have on hand and if you do need to buy anything it is usually simple and inexpensive. Many of the projects only use pencil and paper or crayons, construction paper and scissors. The lessons teach simple principles that can be applied to various projects.

With most projects, children can work independently. There is always something pretty and decorative or useful to show for their efforts.

My children enjoy this art curriculum so much! They are always eager to work on their projects.

In the past we have tried so many different things for art and usually we either put it aside because we don't have all the supplies or can't find them at a local store or the projects are so time consuming that we just don't have time to do them every week.

If you are looking for a simple way to do art in your homeschool I would highly suggest giving Art With A Purpose a try!